1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information selling method and an information selling system and, more particularly, to an information selling method and an information selling system for selling information as the object of sales from an information vending machine by transmitting the information from an information center to the information vending machine through a communication line and copying the information which is requested by a purchaser on a recording medium (storage medium).
2. Description of the Related Art
An information selling system has been proposed (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 234296/1990) in which information such as an electronic newspaper and a magazine is sold by transmitting the information from an information center to the information vending machines provided in predetermined areas through communication lines and copying the information on a recording medium such as a memory card and a floppy disk.
FIG. 16 shows the structure of such an information selling system. The reference numeral 1 represents an information center for collecting information and transmitting it to information vending machines, 2 a network NW such as a public network, a videotext network and an ISDN network, 3a to 3n information vending machines provided in predetermined places, 4 a recording medium such as a memory card and a floppy disk, and 5 a terminal equipment owned by a purchaser. When a purchaser specifies the information to be bought through the operating portion OP of a predetermined vending machine (3a to 3n) and pays the necessary price in cash, by a prepaid card or the like, the vending machine copies the specified information on the recording medium 4 and discharges the recording medium 4. The purchaser inserts the recording medium 4 into his own terminal equipment 5 and executes the predetermined operation so as to display the information obtained on a display portion 5a.
In such an information selling system, two methods have been proposed as a method of transmitting information from the information center 1 to the information vending machines 3a to 3n and selling the information. (1) In a first method, the information as the object of sales is transmitted from the information center 1 to the vending machines 3a to 3n and stored therein in advance, and the information is sold without the need for communication with the information center 1. (2) In a second method, the information as the object of sales is not stored in the information vending machines 3a to 3n in advance but transmitted from the information center 1 to the vending machine (3a to 3n) in response to the request from the vending machine (3a to 3n) so as to sell the information.
FIG. 17 explains the first information selling method. When the information center 1 is ready to transmit the information as the object of sales to the information vending machines 3a to 3n, the information center 1 first transmits the information to the information vending machine 3a through the communication line 2 and a storage unit MEM stores the information. The information center 1 then transmits the same information to the information vending machine 3b through the communication line 2 and the storage unit MEM of thereof stores the information. In the same way, the information center 1 transmits the same information sequentially to each of the vending machines 3c, 3d . . . 3n and each storage unit MEM stores the information. When the purchaser specifies the information to be bought from the a predetermined information vending machine, e.g., 3b, the information is read from the storage unit MEM, copied on the recording medium 4 and sold.
FIG. 18 explains the second information selling method. Information is collectively stored in the information center 1, and when the predetermined vending machine, e.g., 3b (among 3a to 3n) requests information, the information center 1 transmits the requested information to the information vending machine 3b through the communication line 2. The information vending machine 3b receives the information, copies it on the recording medium 4 and sells it.
In the first method, since information as the object of sales is stored in the storage unit which is provided in each information vending machine, the amount of stored information is small due to the limitation of the capacity of the storage unit so that the purchaser cannot have a wide variety of selections of information.
In addition, in the first method, since the amount of stored information is small, there is a high possibility that the information requested by a purchaser is not stored in the vending machine operated. As a result, the sales of information fall off.
In the first method, when part of information becomes out-of-date, it is necessary to replace the information stored in all of the vending machines, so that the maintenance takes much labor and time.
Furthermore, in the first method, if each information vending machine is provided with a storage unit having a large capacity in order to increase the amount of stored information, the price of an information vending machine rises. With respect to the maintenance, when the information vending machine is out of order, it is necessary to replace the storage unit, which leads to the rise in the maintenance cost.
Although the second method is free from these problems of the first method, since it is necessary to communicate with the information center every time information is sold, high communication expenses are required, which leads to the rise in the selling price.